Number of executions doubles

Issue 

Number of executions doubles

By Eva Cheng

The number of people executed in China last year to at least 4367, according to Amnesty International.

Most were killed with a single gun shot to the back of the head, after staged mass rallies and humiliating public parades, fully televised.

A substantial number were rounded up during the annual "Strike Hard" campaign, officially billed as a crackdown on crime. Last year's campaign lasted 100 days, resulting in tens of thousands of arrests each week.

Defendants can be tried unassisted by legal personnel. Sentences are often carried out in great haste (as little as a few days), and there is little room for meaningful appeals.

A total of 6100 death sentences were passed in 1996, leaving 1733 yet to be carried out. In 1995, 920 of the 3110 death sentences were not carried out and in 1994, 730 out of 2780.

Legal sanction of summary trial and execution was introduced in 1983 at the start of a nationwide "anti-crime" campaign which resulted in thousands of executions within weeks. Minors aged 16 to 18 can be sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, during which period they are locked up in hard labour camps.

The death penalty can apply to at least 68 offences, including robbery, habitual theft, forgery and prostitution. "Seriously disrupting social order" and "causing damage to public or private property" are also punishable by death, which opens room for political prosecutions.

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